While some automatic hook setting devices are intended for use on the bank of a river, stream, or pond, the majority of these devices are intended for ice fishing and are of the "tip up" or vertical variety.
There are very few hook setting devices in the prior art which employ a compression spring to impart the force required to set the hook. One example of such a device is U.S. Pat. No. 3,023,531.
The majority of the hook setting devices found in the prior art employ a tension spring released by a trigger mechanism when a downward force is exerted on a line attached to a rod, or reel, or a combination of both. Examples of such devices are illustrated in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,077,148; 2,944,361; 2,944,360 and 2,564,840.
One characteristic which is shared by virtually every kind of hook setting device, is the immediate transmission of an upward force on the hook, once the trigger mechanism has been tripped. This is a disadvantage because the hook may be immediately pulled from the fishes mouth whereas with the delay mechanism of the instant invention the fish is permitted time to swallow the hook before the hooking force is engaged.
Some of the problems and drawbacks associated with the prior art devices have been: loss of spring tension after repeated usage; inability of the trigger element to be adjusted to vary the force necessary to trip the mechanism; flimsy construction which shortens the useful life of the device; the inability of the device to be utilized for both shore and ice fishing; transmission of the hooking force to the hook at the start of the spring travel at a point when the spring also has to overcome the force of inertia and the drag force of the line through the water resulting in a weaker and less effective hooking force; unrestrained spring travel causing fatigue in the spring coils; the lack of rod handle retaining means to prevent the fishing rod from being thrown from the holder due to centrifugal force; and the absence of enclosure means to protect the spring member from the natural elements and intrusion of harmful foreign objects.